Are you a high school junior and possible candidate for the National Merit Scholarship, but unable to take the PSAT/NMSQT test on the October national test date? There’s now an alternative action to pursue.

In the very midst of focused preparation for college entrance testing (ACT and SAT), it’s rather easy for student (and anxious parent) to lose sight of a bigger picture.

We have in mind the benefits that accrue from guided, methodical practice for the big tests. What are these benefits? They’re wrapped up in our three-word title. First, effective test prep produces an effective, active reader. That’s a student who’s engaged in such a way as to maximize retention.

One natural outcome of active reading is stimulation of thought – of thoughtfulness and connection making, two essential components of learning. In the stressful environment of testing, there’s hardly anything more important than the ability to weigh, measure, and consider cause and effect of ideas. Think.

Most schools in October offer the PSAT (a “preliminary” SAT) to their freshman, sophomores, and/or juniors. Regardless of your school’s official testing policy, here are some good reasons why a student should take the PSAT, whose scores are NOT reported to colleges:

Your high school grade point average (GPA) is the #1 piece of information that schools look at when they’re considering applicants — in fact, it would probably be the #2, and #3 things, too, if that made sense. It’s been that way forever, and it’s not going to change within your lifetime, if ever.

We’re seeing the back-to-school ads already, and we are barely into July! Summer is well underway, so it’s time for you college-bound students to seal the deal and set your sights on next steps. Here are ten that we recommend:

The backdrop for summer vacation life is, for most students, missing one overwhelming element: school. Lots has been written and spoken about the pro’s and con’s of boxing away academic discipline in favor of “the beach” (an all-encompassing metaphor for the two and half straight months enjoyed outside any classroom).

In an attempt to reward some of the top Florida high school students and to help retain those students for college, the Florida State Senate recently passed the "Excellence in Higher Education Act". The bill is currently working its way through the Florida State House of Representatives. If passed, it would substantially increase "Bright Futures Scholarship" awards to Florida college students.

Last March, in a blog post entitled The Florida public schools’ student-to-counselor ratio, aka “Do we really want to be average?, we decried the fact that Florida public high schools’ student-to-counselor ratio in 2013-14 exactly matched the national average. Result? An average of only about five and one-half minutes of face-to-face time between student and counselor each week (based on the absurd assumption that counselors spend all of their time working with individual students). And we presented information showing why that assumption was absurd. In short, the sheer weight of numbers and paucity of time precluded school counselors from giving our students – our children, our future leaders and future contributors to the welfare of our society – the individual attention needed and deserved.

Now that the wait’s nearly over and you’re soon going to get your PSAT scores, there seems to be only three alternatives: Your score’s going to be so good that every school’s going to want you, so bad that no school will ever want you, or so middling that you’ll wonder why you even bothered. And because your score’s going to be whatever it’s going to be – the die have been cast, and you now have no control over what numbers will come up when they stop bouncing – you don’t need to do anything else, right?

Wrong, and wrong in almost every respect. In fact, there are multiple things that you need to do, and we can walk you through the first three.

Ready to move to the front of the class?

Let's discuss a custom learning strategy that will get you or your student on a path to success.

Score At The Top comprises several family-owned, full-service learning centers and schools throughout Palm Beach and Broward Counties. For over 30 years, we have provided an integrated array of academic support and guidance services to students of all ages.

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